Assessing Students’ Knowledge Co-construction Behaviors in a Collaborative Computational Modeling Environment

Abstract

Successful knowledge co-construction during collaborative learning requires students to develop a shared conceptual understanding of the domain through effective social interactions [1]. Developing and applying shared understanding of concepts and practices is directly impacted by the prior knowledge that students bring to their interactions. We present a systematic approach to analyze students’ knowledge co-construction processes as they work through a physics curriculum that includes inquiry activities, instructional tasks, and computational model building activities. Utilizing a combination of students’ activity logs and discourse analysis, we assess how students’ knowledge impacts their knowledge co-construction processes. We hope a better understanding of how students’ co-construction processes develop and the difficulties they face will lead to better adaptive scaffolding of students’ learning and better support for collaborative learning.